Supers prepare questions for Toll Brothers sitdown

Monday

Oct 23, 2006 at 12:01 AMOct 23, 2006 at 12:07 AM

MARSHALLS CREEK — A controversial private community declaration filed by Toll Brothers for one section of Country Club of the Poconos is far from the only issue on the minds of Middle Smithfield Township officials.

DAVID PIERCE

MARSHALLS CREEK — A controversial private community declaration filed by Toll Brothers for one section of Country Club of the Poconos is far from the only issue on the minds of Middle Smithfield Township officials.

Township supervisors sent letters last week requesting that officials of Toll Brothers, a national builder based in Montgomery County, and the primary developer of Country Club, meet privately with them Dec. 4.

Supervisors hope to discuss what Middle Smithfield believes may be an illegal, separate private community within the larger Country Club common interest development.

This isn't the first time Toll Brothers has been called upon to explain its actions at Country Club of the Poconos, also known as Big Ridge.

When township residents complained last year about Toll Brothers allegedly not complying with requirements for developing the northern section of Country Club, then supervisors Chairwoman Debbie Kulick told them to put their concerns in writing.

Two township residents — Country Club resident Maureen McGrath and Tom X Road resident Larry Dymond — did just that, submitting dozens of written questions that Toll officials were asked to answer during a public forum.

Dymond, who lives downstream from Country Club, was particularly upset by Toll Brothers' clear-cutting trees at Country Club to make way for rows of luxury homes.

Dymond said the clear-cutting resulted in eroding silt and water destroying a private bridge he used to access his house.

Dymond's questions included inquiries about whether the clearing work violated township regulations regarding stormwater management, tree preservation and landscaping. He also questioned the commitment of township officials to enforce those provisions.

McGrath's written concerns focused on the 1988 approval process for Country Club under the township's former planned residential development PRD ordinance. She questioned whether laws and procedures were followed then or later on as individual phases of the private home development received final plan approval.

McGrath also questioned why the original developer was allowed to change the approved configuration of Country Club lots and designated open space in 1992, after some buyers already bought lots based on the previous plans. She objected to an absence of internal land surveys to establish metes and bounds dimensions for so-called "village" areas, and the signature of one officer for the original developer on an approved development plan after the officer had been fired from his job.

Bryan Fisk, an RKR Hess engineer who once worked for Mid-Monroe Development Corp. — the original Country Club developer — was Toll Brothers' designated point person to answer most of those questions during the June 2005 meeting. Fisk also developed Toll Brothers' development plans at Country Club.

"We have complied," Fisk said repeatedly in response to the questions. He refused to answer about half of McGrath's questions, however, on grounds they didn't involve the original PRD approval that was the identified scope of the meeting.

Toll Brothers officials didn't appear pleased to be put on the spot. And many of the 40 residents in the audience expressed displeasure with both the format, which didn't allow follow-up questions, and what they called a lack of responsiveness from the builder.

A three-member township committee, formed this past summer to examine all aspects of the township's handling of the Country Club approval, says the issues presented last year in those written questions represent just a fraction of all the potential problems.

"The public presented us with 27 issues," township attorney Jennifer Wise, one of the committee members, said during an Oct. 10 supervisors meeting. "They are the trees in the forest."

Supervisor Kulick admitted this week that last year's format for answering pre-submitted written questions fell short of expectations. But she said it was worth the effort.

"Number one, it was a step to try to answer the questions at the time," Kulick said. "Since then there were other issues that came up."

Problems at Country Club/Big Ridge don't look as significant individually as they do when examined in their entirety, Kulick added.

"It did take everything coming together," Kulick said. "Individually, you don't notice the issues. If it all wasn't so fragmented, it would be easier to assemble."

Dymond, though, doesn't expect much to come out of the supervisors' December meeting with Toll Brothers and Big Ridge developers, given what happened last year.

"If there are problems and they're not in compliance, since when do you send somebody a letter?" Dymond asked. "It's either right or wrong."